Good Tuesday morning. Prayers are answered in the Gulf as Gustav fades, allowing the Republican National Convention to get back on track. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos was first to report (online last night) that President Bush will address delegates today.

CBS News’ Steve Chaggaris has the deets: The convention will return to a regular program today at 6 p.m. CT. Tonight will be a “biographical sketch’ of John McCain. Key primetime speakers (9 to 10 p.m. local, 10 to 11 p.m. Eastern) will be former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman, (I-Conn.)

AP: "The revamped schedule suggested that convention planners were easing back into partisan politics with an appeal to independent-minded voters." AP reports Mayor Giuliani may be off program as keynoter, but will address delegates in prime time Wednesday or Thursday.

National Journal Convention Daily leads with, “A Touch of Glamour: Laura Bush and Cindy McCain kick off a Day One blown off course by Gustav.”

Mrs. McCain and first lady Laura Bush go before cameras at the Minneapolis Convention Center to preview the care-pack assembly line that will be open Wednesday and Thursday, and to thank Target, FedEx and the American Red Cross.

Vets for Freedom today launches a $7 million campaign calling on Senator Obama to “acknowledge the surge worked.”

Senator Obama is on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

THE BIG IDEA – Politico, “New Palin details may help, not hurt,” by Charles Mahtesian: “Fishing permit violations. A blue-collar husband who racked up a DUI citation as a 22-year-old. An unmarried teenage daughter who is pregnant and a nasty child custody battle involving a family member. All of this, to one degree or another, has surfaced in recent days as a result of efforts to discredit or undermine Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But these revelations may have the opposite effect: In one sense, they could reinforce how remarkably unremarkable she is.

“So far — and it is hard to tell what the future may hold for Palin’s unexpected national candidacy — the travails of the Palin family probably seem awfully familiar to many average Americans. It is this averageness that makes her such a politically promising running mate for John McCain — and such a dangerous opponent for Democrats. Many voters will find it easy to identify with her family’s struggles — a significant advantage in an election where the voting calculus is so unusually and intensely personal.”

SCOOP – ABC News, “‘October Surprise’ Over Palin Investigation? ‘Likely Damaging’ Report on Governor Scheduled for Release Days Before November Election,” by Brian Ross and Len Tepper: “The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin says the McCain campaign is using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election. ‘It's likely to be damaging to the Governor,’ said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation of claims that Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired.”

TALKER – The aforementioned ABC’s Brian Ross: “As residents of New Orleans were fleeing Hurricane Gustav, top Republican party officials donned pink boas and swigged vodka shots at a wild whirl of corporate and lobbyist-paid parties this weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Many corporate sponsors and their lobbyists carried through with plans for lavish entertainment of GOP lawmakers and others despite calls from the campaign of Sen. John McCain that Republicans should tone down the convention festivities. … [L]obbyists for the National Rifle Association, Lockheed Martin and the American Trucking Association put on a raucous six-hour party at a downtown bar featuring music by the band "Hookers and Blow." There was no evidence of any actual prostitutes or cocaine.”

DRIVING THE DAY -- ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “I think what a lot of Republican operatives and delegates here are asking is: What else is out there about Governor Palin? Was the vetting process complete and professional?”

***A top McCain official tells Playbook: “She was vetted as fully as all the candidates before her selection. The team sent to Anchorage last week was the communications jump team, set up for whoever the pick was, to integrate their world into ours.”

P.S. “MANY THANKS FOR MAKING AUGUST 2008 THE MOST-VISITED MONTH IN DRUDGEREPORT'S 13 YEAR-HISTORY!... THE PAGE LOADED 614,577,960 TIMES WITH 14,163,025 UNIQUES, SMASHING PREVIOUS HIGH, SET IN MARCH...”

L.A. Times A1, Mark Z. Barabak: “Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said more than two dozen McCain aides reviewed public records and legal documents, her credit history, news accounts, speeches, financial records and any formal complaints against her. Palin completed a 40-page questionnaire and was interviewed for three to four hours by Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., a longtime Washington attorney, and spoke at length with McCain's top advisors. In the interview with Culvahouse, Palin disclosed her daughter's pregnancy and her husband's DUI, Comella said."

Wallace, on NBC’s “Today,” says the disclosure was prompted by “Democratic- and liberal-leaning fervor, really, in the blogosphere [delving] into the private life of the Palin family. after her announcement. There was a hateful slew of rumors and innuendo about her most recent pregnancy-- a roar of activity about the personal life of this family.” On the vetting: “I think a process that is secret shouldn't be confused with a process that's hasty.”

NBC’s Matt Lauer asked Mary Matalin why the information was put out “on the eve of the Republican Convention and she replied: “It was an open secret.”

GOVERNOR PALIN IS IN THE TWIN CITIES, WITH NO PUBLIC SCHEDULE.

QUESTIONS OF JUDGMENT -- USA Today drives the conversation with a tough headline on Martha T. Moore’s front-pager about Senator McCain and Governor Palin, “Privacy, judgment raised after news of pregnancy”: “Delegates to the Republican National Convention, as well as Democrat Barack Obama, reacted sympathetically Monday to the disclosure that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's unmarried teenaged daughter is pregnant. But others said the revelation raised questions about John McCain's judgment.

“Steve Schmidt, chief strategist for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, insisted the party's ticket would not be hurt and said the idea that 17-year-old Bristol Palin's pregnancy would affect Palin's ability to be vice president ‘is demeaning.’ … McCain learned of the pregnancy last week, Schmidt said, before he offered Palin the spot as his running mate. McCain adviser Mark Salter said Palin disclosed her daughter's pregnancy to rebut rumors on the Internet that Palin's son, Trig, who was born in April and has Down syndrome, is Bristol's child.”

HASTE, JUDGMENT -- The N.Y. Times’ off-lead (col. 1-2), “Palin Disclosures Spotlight McCain’s Screening Process: Daughter’s Pregnancy One of Several Revelations,” By Elisabeth Bumiller: “Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice. The campaign was still calling Republican operatives as late as Sunday night asking them to go to Alaska to deal with the unexpected candidacy of Ms. Palin.

“Although the McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain had known about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and that he did not consider it disqualifying, top aides were vague on Monday about how and when he had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom. While there was no sign that her formal nomination this week was in jeopardy, the questions swirling around Ms. Palin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, already disrupted by Hurricane Gustav, brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCain’s judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions.

“At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described. Up until midweek last week, some 48 to 72 hours before Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin at a Friday rally in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCain was still holding out the hope that he could choose a good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a Republican close to the campaign said. Mr. McCain had also been interested in another favorite, former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.”

OBAMA GETS HIS BOUNCE -- USA Today 6A, “In poll, Obama gets ‘convention bounce,’” by Susan Page: “The Democratic National Convention significantly boosted Americans' views of Barack Obama as a strong leader who ‘shares your values’ and can manage the economy and Iraq, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Saturday and Sunday finds. Republican John McCain's advantage in handling terrorism was dramatically reduced, and his ‘unfavorable’ rating ticked up to its highest level this year. … In the head-to-head race, Obama leads 50 percent-43 percent among registered voters. In the USA TODAY Poll taken Aug. 21-23, the Illinois senator held a 4-percentage-point lead.”

CBS News: “Democratic nominee Barack Obama's lead over Republican John McCain has grown after the Democratic convention, which 71 percent of Americans say they watched. Obama and his running mate Joe Biden now lead McCain and Sarah Palin 48 percent to 40 percent, according to the latest CBS News poll. This is the first CBS News poll to include the vice presidential candidates in the horserace question.”

SCOOP -- Newsweek Exclusive – “Top Clinton Supporter John Coale Endorses McCain” John Coale, who traveled with the Senator Hillary Clinton, President Clinton and her family through out the primary season has endorsed John McCain, complaining of sexism and saying the party is ‘being taken over by the moveon.org types’ in an exclusive interview with Newsweek. He told Tammy Haddad that he tried to prevent Hillary Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, from attending an August 18th meeting in Scranton, Pa. with McCain campaign surrogate Carly Fiorina. ‘I urged him not to go and told him it would embarrass his sister, but he has a mind of his own.’ Coale says Mr. Rodham asked Ms. Fiorina about McCain's Supreme Court picks.”

NEW AD on GOP Katrina failures TODAY FROM CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE -- Playing across the country, including on news channels in more than 5,000 hotel rooms where Republican delegates are staying in the St. Paul area. Called “Thanks for the Memories.”

HAPPENING TODAY: At the convention, TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel hosts a breakfast discussion with Meg Whitman, former president and CEO of eBay.

ST. PAUL DAYBOOK: Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” moderates former HHS Sec. Tommy G. Thompson and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, both of whom were very involved in Katrina, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the historic James J. Hill Library. (Good chance for reporters to catch up with either of them.) Kirsten Fedewa was hired to organize the event, which is co-hosted by The Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota, the University of Colorado and the Obesity Society. New Hampshire State Sen. Bob Clegg will also speak.

HUCKABEE’S BAND, “CAPITOL OFFENSE,” PLAYS TONIGHT.

WHAT’S THE LEAD? AP, "Convention Rdp, Republicans try to get convention back on track," by Sara Kugler: “Hamstrung by Hurricane Gustav and distracted by the revelation that Sarah Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, Republicans were trying to get back on track Tuesday with the political pageantry that celebrates John McCain's candidacy for president. … One of the speakers scheduled for Tuesday night's session, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, said he would address delegates as planned.”

SPOTTED: Wearing Team America hats, Team McCain (Conant/Wilkerson/Bounds) raises a glass with Team Obama (Vietor/ Sevugan/Cherlin). The venue, "The Spirits of Minneapolis," renamed "The Spirits of the Gulf Coast" as an American Red Cross funder. Sponsorted by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, The Weekly Standard, The Hill, etc.

DID LABASH REALLY THINK HE COULD PASS HIMSELF OFF TO THOSE GIRLS AND PHOTOGS AS "RON BONJOVI"?

BUSINESS BLINK – WSJ lead story – “Google Tackles Microsoft In Launch Of Browser.”

DESSERT – LA. Times A1, “Movie theaters offering upscale ambience: Some cinemas are kicking up the experience -- and the ticket price -- offering such things as reclining seats, high-end food and alcoholic beverages,” by Josh Friedman: “The upscale theater trend is accelerating as exhibitors cater to the over-40 crowd, the fastest-growing segment of the population and a relatively affluent demographic … Over-21 screenings, where alcohol is permitted, enable adults to avoid yakking teenagers. … The Gold Class experience starts with online seating selection, valet parking and a concierge desk at check-in.”

Talk about McCain's judgement! Just the way Obama has picked his campaign team and the way he and his team has managed the 2500 strong organization in itself should tell a lot about the man and his executive skills. How many shake-ups did McCain have? And the first 'presidential' decision (VP pick) appears to be a lousy one as well. He is older than my father and I respect him, but I wouldn't want him to be my president, just like I would not want my father to be my president!

In less than a week a poorly vetted candidate is subject of investigation, has 17 pregnant daughter (Imagine size of shotgun in that wedding) and no real governing experience* equals a Republican rout. No more McSame and Caribou Barbie (the original beauty pageant feminist)

*mayor of moose-ville and 20 months as governor dont count (half of that spent trying to get someone fired)

Executive experience got us BUSH, which got our country into this MESS!

--From surplus to insurmountable FISCAL CONSERVATIVE DEBT.

--ABUSE OF POWER

--The list goes on, no need to bore.

The point:

Millions of American voters had a say about the OBAMA presidency, he had 18 months of vetting.

Palin doesn’t get a PASS FROM VETTING, or an overwhelming vote from the American people just because McCain says so. WE THE PEOPLE deserve to know who this woman is and was.

THE GOP nearly GUTTED HILLARY for years…stop with the sexism stuff ‘cause you didn’t care about it with your relentless attacks against Hillary. REAL HILLARY SUPPORTERS haven’t forgotten and WILL NOT BE USED as the REPUBLICAN PARTY’S FOOTSTOOL.

Alaska is still a state and thankfully did not secede from the union as supported by Palin with gall.

America can not; should not reward this behavior.

While the MSM blames other candidates for something someone else did....they fail to make her accountable for something SHE DID.

Supporting Alaska to secede from the union is UNAMERICAN. PERIOD.

Many died in the CIVIL WAR because a great republican, LINCOLN, had the wisdom to prevent division because he knew, 'UNITED WE STAND; DIVIDED WE FALL".

---TROOPER GATE: Abuse of power by firing the state trooper boss of her sister’s husband (or, something like that); either way, UNFAIR for the boss to get fired over her personal mess. Glad it wasn’t my father getting fired over her families domestic crap.

---MAYOR GATE: Abuse of power by firing police officer; librarian who merely made a carnal sin by not ‘supporting her campaign’. So much for FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

---GOVERNOR GATE: Abuse of power by firing Bitney because he started dating her husbands friends X (childess)

---ALASKAN INDEPENDENCE PARTY GATE

***American don't need another rogue republican who abuses their power in the White House

The republican party is really becoming an exclusive club. Any 'average' American family whose wife is not a Governor, under investigation by a Senate committee for misuse of power, who has previously been busted for fish and game violations, who believes in indoctrinating all children with the myth of the bible and 'creationism' in public schools, who would force a child made pregnant by rape or incest to give birth to the baby, who disbelieves in birth control, who believes in seceding her state from the USA, whose husband has not been busted for a felony DUI, whose daughters do not spend their playtime fornicating with prospective impregnators, is just not welcome in the Party of Family Values.

When will Politico start talking about the ex-Attorney General of PA's Federal Suit claiming that Barack Obama is not officially a US citizen, that he was born in Kenya (family witnesses) and that he was adopted in Indonesia by his step father, making him not eligible for the President of US:

What a stupid bunch of Repubs. To think that just any woman would do. They might as well picked Megan Kelly from Fox. Just as shallow and probably would last longer in a debate. Changed my mind again. The Fox woman has bleached out hair and a bad voice tone. Plus, she's been whipped by everyone that has been on her show.Tradional Women Will Reject Her

The Palin pick proves that McCain has become a hostage to the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. Forget the maverick, independent McCain. This is the McCain who is afraid to take on Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson. McCain wanted Liberman. The extremists wanted Palin. Guess who won. So who's vision of the world is going to govern a McCain presidency?

SCOOP – ABC News, “‘October Surprise’ Over Palin Investigation? ‘Likely Damaging’ Report on Governor Scheduled for Release Days Before November Election,” by Brian Ross and Len Tepper: “The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin says the McCain campaign is using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election. ‘It's likely to be damaging to the Governor,’ said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation of claims that Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired.”

Just as long as there are no pre judgments. Give me a break Senator Hollis French. By the time this report comes out, if they are smart, the details will have already been released by the McCain campaign.

As far as the "unremarkable life" title that's been placed on Palin, I'm not sure I get that. What about it has been any less remarkable than Barrack Obama's? Come on he should get credit too. Yes she has a husband who pled guilty to a DUI, but of course Senator Obama has plead guilty to drunkenness and using cocaine, not in court but to the nation. He also mentored and followed the teachings of a racist preacher for 20 years. Problem is Obama has been sold as almost larger than life, and after all he has that Ivy league education. His difficulty is that the elitist stamp that plagues him is well earned, and it has nothing to do with how many houses he owns or how much he pays for his shoes.

For some reason both parties have decided not to offer up their best, but it is clear, given the choices, that Obama doesn't measure up. Four more years of Carter? No thanks.

"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." -Attributed to W. Churchill

Don't forget that her teenage daughter gave birth to the DS child the Governor claimed as her own. Oh yeah, the odds of that are less than 900 to 1, even before we knew the daughter was 5 months pregnant. That story was bogus and so is most of your -stuff.

"A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on." Mark Twain.

I see the hate mongers are up and at Obama early this morning. My my, nothing to complain about but that his is black. How every progressive of you. If that is your worst, go for it. I thought, for some reason, that in this country it is the measure of the man, not the color of his skin or hair or eyes, guess I was wrong. Seems that when the wingers run out of the same ole arguments they must bring up race. Good, this must mean we have a lock on the election.

About this all American family, I think that unconditional love has something to do with being there for your family not just saying platitudes to a camera. This poor girl at only 17, she can make no educated choices for her future. She must reinforce Mom's one dimensional thinking. So at 17 she will now get to raise her younger brother, a child of her own and care for a husband. All at only 17, most of us American families would do whatever was needed to be "there" for our children. Particularly when they face a life altering crisis. Being asked to run for office is indeed very heady stuff, I have been there. Somehow the welfare of my children was more important than my own self aggrandizement. So PLEASE do not tell us this is just the typical American family - nothing could be farther from the truth. If one chooses to have a child then they have made a life-time commitment not one of convenience. Just another of the thousands of sound reasons for choice.

I am not impressed by either of these two candidates, no new ideas - no thoughts on directions for this country and such a lack of leadership. Any thinking person knows that opening up more drilling areas is for the sake of the oil and gas companies, not resolve any problems for the American people. (Could not help but notice that somehow the hurricane means a rush to open more fields.) It is true and most acknowledge that Obama lacks some experience, as have some others. He does have a vision of what this country needs and where it needs to go, and that is something the Republican candidates are lacking.

This poor girl at only 17, she can make no educated choices for her future. She must reinforce Mom's one dimensional thinking. So at 17 she will now get to raise her younger brother, a child of her own and care for a husband.

This is the type of sexism offered on the net that Senator Obama is trying to seperate himself from.

misstexaskitty: Sep. 2, 2008 - 12:42 PM EST

It is true and most acknowledge that Obama lacks some experience, as have some others. He does have a vision of what this country needs and where it needs to go, and that is something the Republican candidates are lacking.

Voting for Obama is a like saying, "Oh, look it's raining. I think I'll fold up my umbrella." Change for change sake, for a new way without knowing what that means, got us Jimmy Carter.

"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." -Attributed to W. Churchill

All I could think about today was the other three little girls standing next to Bristol. I think they need a mother or a father that is a full time parent. Obviously Bristol is an example of that. How can you run the nation and run your family at the same time. I think this will really resonate with Soccer moms... they understand what they face every day... and in no way would they say that they could raise a family properly while doing it.

Either the hubby needs to be a stay at home dad or the Governor needs to step down. Family first... politics second.

Why is everyone wringing their hands and fretting about the effect all this 'negative publicity' is going to have on 'poor little' Bristol Palin? There's no such thing as 'negative' publicity. Think of all the career possibilities this opens for her. She can pop out the kid and immediately become a Hip-Hop star. Or, if she opts for eschewing panties, she can become a New York limousine-celebrity, and hang out with the creme de la creme of our society.

Lame duck Bush, in order to demonstrate he 'gets it', and show a prompt response to Gustav (as well as plumping-up his 401K), has approved a petty cash request from Michael Chertoff to purchase 300 million umbrellas from Israel for 300 billion dollars.